Irvine Unified Seeks a New Fee

Creative financing or skirting legality? However a proposed recreation fee is perceived, Irvine school officials hope voters finally will agree to charge themselves to help the financially strapped district.

Four times in the last two decades, Irvine voters have been asked to raise their taxes, and four times they have said no. The fifth attempt would ask property owners to pay $48 a year to use school district recreational facilities. It would create a special assessment district, requiring approval by a simple majority of voters -- instead of the two-thirds margin required for the previous initiatives.

The money raised would counter effects of proposed state budget cuts by freeing roughly $2.4 million to spend on other school programs, district officials said. The district expects to lose $7.5 million in state funds.

Irvine Unified’s five-member board of education decided late Tuesday to take the latest proposal to voters. Ballots for the Irvine Unified measure will be mailed in March and due back within two weeks.

Irvine’s anti-tax constituency has vowed to defeat the measure by challenging its legality, noting that it would be difficult to mobilize against the required simple majority.

“I can beat a parcel tax,” said Eunice Cluck, president of the Irvine Taxpayers Assn. “But a majority vote is a lot more work.”

San Diego political consultant Larry Remer, who has led successful bond campaigns throughout the state, although never in Irvine, said the lower threshold almost guarantees passage of the measure.

“The hurdle isn’t as high,” he said. “It’s definitely novel, but these are times that call for novel solutions.”

Other districts have successfully sought revenue through elections, especially since Californians agreed in November 2000 to lower the school construction bond passage threshold to 55%. This is Irvine’s first school ballot measure since then.

Irvine is trying a different approach by creating a special assessment district, which provides a district more spending flexibility than a school construction bond.

State law allows public agencies to create special districts to impose fees if they can prove property owners receive extra benefit from something such as a playground or park. Such measures have passed in several California cities and two school districts.

Irvine Unified commissioned a study that demonstrated its recreational facilities are used by others besides school-age children, Supt. Dean Waldfogel said. He said those who try to challenge that assertion will find the district is following legal guidelines with the measure.

“The dollars allocated for education should not be used for supporting community recreation activities,” he said. “Given how tight education dollars are, those users should pay their fair share.”

The assessment would cost homeowners about $48 per year, condominium owners $33 and mobile-home property owners $23.

The city’s largest landowner, the Irvine Co., controls about one-fifth of the votes for the measure. Company spokesman John Christensen said it is unknown how it will vote.

The district would not go to the expense of an election if they didn’t already have an idea how the company will lean, Remer said. “You want to walk in with a pretty solid ‘yes’ vote.”

Pollster Adam Probolsky said that assuming city agencies and the Irvine Co. support the measure, it would be nearly impossible for tax opponents to defeat it. He and other Irvine taxpayers questioned the ethics of charging property owners for the presence of recreational facilities, such as stadium lights or playground equipment.

“I understand how hard-pressed they are for cash, but this is probably not the best way for them to get it,” he said. “I think it’s a stretch for a lot of people.”

Cluck says the district is cloaking a parcel tax by calling it a recreation assessment district, and says that as a parcel tax it should require a two-thirds majority to pass. She plans to oppose it with the help of anti-tax organizations such as the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn.

“The school district is counting on apathy,” Cluck said. “I’m not doing this so I save the $50, I’m doing this for all the people who don’t have the energy to oppose it.”

Supt. James A. Fleming of Capistrano Unified School District said he sympathizes with Irvine’s financial crisis but is philosophically opposed to assessment fees.

“I have a personal aversion to asking people to solve a problem created by the state,” he said. “You’re letting the state off the hook.”

Waldfogel isn’t sure how the money saved from the recreation budget would be used if the measure passes. That lack of focus may reduce the district’s credibility with voters, Fleming said.

“People want to know their money is going for some specific purpose they can relate to, like smaller classes or building new schools,” he said.

Providing a district flexibility is a key point of the proposed measure, said University High PTA President Anne Leisure.

“The district knows where the money is most urgently needed,” she said. “They’re the ones who need to be able to decide how they use their funds.”